Montana Resident Pleasure Travel

Report Number: Research Report 68
Authors: J. Allen Ellard, Norma P. Nickerson, Kim McMahon
Month Published: September 1999

Executive Summary

This study examines recreation patterns of Montana residents for a 12-month period, July 1998 through June 1999.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of what Montana residents do for recreation in a given month, season or year. The goals for this report were:

• To determine typical resident recreation patterns.
• To compare yearly, seasonal, and monthly recreation participation.
• To compare recreation participation by income level.
• To compare recreation patterns by household type (with and without children).
• If possible, to identify the value Montana residents place on Montana’s natural recreational resources.

Methodology

Between July 1, 1998, and June 30, 1999, over 2,600 Montana resident households were contacted by telephone using a Random Digit Dialing (RDD) process. Interviewing was conducted every two weeks for twelve months. Throughout this process, multiple attempts were made to contact each telephone number. Attempts were made on weekdays as well as weekends during daytime and evening hours.

Results

• It was typical for only one person in the household to participant in most of the activities.
• Walking as a recreation activity was always the most participated in activity whether the household had children or not, no matter the season or month, and no difference between income levels.
• The seasons and months showed differences in recreation participation based on weather-related activities or regulation-related activities such as hunting. However, the top three activities in terms of participation (walking, recreational shopping, and wildlife watching) were the same in winter, spring and summer. A difference occurred in the fall with sporting events entering the top three activities.
• August was the busiest month with 30 percent of all households participating in 14 activities. January was the slowest month with 30 percent of the households participating in only 6 activities.
• Households with children are far more likely to participate in recreation activities than those without children. Only 6 activities were participated in by over 30 percent of households without children. In contrast 14 activities were participated in by over 30 percent of households with children.
• Income is a large factor in recreation participation. With almost no exceptions, households earning over $50,000 annually participated with higher frequency in every type of recreational activity than families earning between $20,000 and $50,000 annually. Likewise, households earning between $20,000 and $50,000 participated at a higher frequency in virtually every activity than households earning less than $20,000 annually. Exceptions to this are ATV/Off-road recreation, vehicle camping, and gambling, which possess fairly constant levels of participation across all income levels.
• Montana residents are more active in non-natural resource dependent activities than those that require natural resources. In terms of number of households participating in the activities, nine of the non-resource dependent activities ranked in the top ten while only four of the natural resource dependent activities ranked in the top ten.

Overall Recreation Activity Participation of Montana Households

Conclusions

Montana households with higher incomes and Montana households with children are more likely to be active in recreation activities. Only one highly participated in activity, wildlife watching, showed the uniqueness of Montana. Other activities, including walking, recreational shopping and attending sporting events can be participated in regardless of where one lives. The value of Montana’s natural recreational resources is unclear since high participation in resource dependent activities is lower than other recreational activities.

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